The present invention relates to a new and improved structure for absorbing liquids from food products. More particularly, the invention relates to an absorbent pad for meat and poultry products.
Over the years, the methods of marketing and selling food products have changed dramatically, especially with perishable products such as meat, poultry, fish, and vegetables. A long-standing tradition has been to display such products in bulk form, thereby allowing the purchaser to individually select the item or items to be purchased. This was particularly true with respect to meat and poultry products which were most commonly sold by a butcher from display cases. Today, many of these products arrive at the grocery store prepackaged. Such packaging, especially with respect to meat and poultry, involves the use of a semi-rigid tray to contain the product and a plastic overwrap to seal the product within the tray to maintain the freshness of the contents for a finite period.
Such products as meat and poultry naturally contain liquids/juices and occasionally added water which with time will drain from the product. When such products were sold at butcher counters, these liquids would drain to the bottom of the display case. However, when the same products are packaged within relatively air- and liquid-tight packages, these liquids end up collecting within the tray and subsequently leaking during transportation and handling. Market analysis has revealed that the consumer finds such liquid-containing packages to be less than desirable. Consequently, many such packages today employ an absorbent material in the bottom of the tray to absorb the liquids as they are released from the food product.
One commonly used material for such purposes is tissue and/or wood pulp fluff which is usually encased within a material such as plastic film or tissue paper. Many other designs have also been developed to be used generally with food packaging. Other designs have been specifically developed to act in concert with a particular package design.
A liquid absorbing and concealing device which includes both a liquid absorbing bag and a tray is disclosed in DuPuis, U.S. Pat. No. 3,156,402. The liquid absorbing bag is composed of two superposed sheets of material which are sealed by heat welding or adhesive around their marginal edges. The sheets may be formed from material such as waxed paper, cellophane, polyethylene, or other thermoplastic or thermosetting plastic materials. Each of the sheets contain a series of openings or holes to permit fluid to enter the bag from either the top or the bottom by the use of gravity and capillary action.
In a reverse application, U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,062 to Rainey discloses a moisture pad for use in hydration of consumable vegetables which have been sealed in plastic and refrigerated. The pad includes a water containing reservoir element which is encased in a sheath of moisture-proof film with openings for escape of the moisture from the reservoir. The pad consists of a sponge or other absorbent or porous pad which is saturated with water to act as the water reservoir. The hydrated sponge is then located within a flexible water-impervious envelope which is sealed or otherwise closed about its periphery. The envelope is then provided with openings to allow for the escape of moisture from the absorbent sponge within.
Another liquid-absorbing device, in this case a liquid-absorbing sectional pack, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,124,116 to McCabe, Jr. The pack is formed from upper and lower contiguous filter sheets which are bonded to each other at the outermost contiguous edges thereof to form an enclosure. The enclosure itself is divided into a plurality of sectional compartments which are isolated from each other by dissolving barrier sheets which consist essentially of a water-soluble carboxymethylcellulose compound. Each of the sectional compartments contain a predetermined quantity of absorbent granules and the barrier sheets function to dissolve when the granules have absorbed a pre-determined amount of moisture so as to provide for increased space in which to contain the moist granules.
A receptacle for moisture-exuding food products is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,321,997 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,410,578 both to Miller. A receptacle is provided for containing and displaying food products which tend to exude juices or liquids which comprises a supporting member such as a tray or bag, and an absorbent pad associated therewith. The absorbent pad comprises a mat of liquid-absorbent material such a wood fluff, an upper liquid-impermeable plastic sheet overlying the absorbent mat, and a bottom plastic sheet underlying the absorbent mat. At least one of the sheets is perforated, and rigid spacer means is disposed between the two sheets to maintain their separation under a compressive load such that the ability of the pad to absorb liquids is unimpaired when the pad is subjected to compressive loading from the food product resting thereon or the like. In this construction, it is preferred that only the bottom sheet be perforated such that when a food product is positioned upon the upper sheet of the absorbent pad, any exuded liquids will flow around the pad and enter the mat by capillary action through the perforated openings in the bottom sheet so as to hold the liquids out of contact with the food product to minimize contamination of the product and maintain its appearance and improve its shelf life.
A receptacle and absorbent pad for containing and displaying food products which tend to exude juices or liquids are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,275,811 and 4,382,507 both to Miller. The pad comprises a mat of liquid absorbent material, an upper liquid impermeable sheet overlying the absorbent mat and a perforated bottom sheet underlying the absorbent mat. When a food product is positioned upon the upper sheet of the absorbent pad, the exuded liquids flow around the pad and enter the mat by capillary action through the perforated openings of the bottom sheet and the liquids are held out of contact with the food product by the impermeable upper sheet. In preferred embodiments the absorbent mat is composed of a relatively thick layer of wood fluff and a relatively thin layer of tissue-like paper wadding which may be interconnected by embossing. In addition, various additives may be added to increase liquid absorbency.
Another absorbent pad for use with packaged meats is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,451,377 to Elves, et al. The absorbent pad is made from a nonwoven fabric material such as viscose rayon, superabsorbent viscose rayon, or polyvinyl alcohol. One side of the pad has a layer of binder material to provide a surface with reduced absorbency as compared to the remainder of the pad with the remainder of the pad being free of binder. In addition, the pad may have apertures formed therein to allow fluid to pass through the binder layer and into the remainder of the nonwoven material. The fibers of the nonwoven material are entangled by needle punching or preferably by the use of high-pressure water jets. The web is then dried and after drying a binder is applied to the one surface of the pad.
A food tray for supporting, containing, and displaying food products which tend to exude or purge juices or liquids is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,278 to Laiewski. The tray has a false bottom which leads to an exudate reservoir. The false bottom is made from a perforated liquid-impermeable thermoplastic film such as polyethylene.
The primary function of each of the above-described devices is to absorb the fluids which are exuded from packaged food products. Leaky packages are among the foremost complaints received by food store operators. Their use in such products, therefore, adds to the cost of the overall product. As a result, a major driving force in the development of such products is to provide an absorbent structure which provides ample absorbency while employing cost-efficient components. Furthermore, such designs should yield products with good wet strength, resilience and fluid retention characteristics. Products such as tissue tend to break apart when wetted. Such materials also readily release their absorbed fluids when placed under a compressive load. This most notably happens when packages are stacked one upon the other.
It is therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an absorbent structure for collecting and retaining fluids released from foods which provides good containment of exuded fluids and which does not readily release such fluids when under compression or break apart when wet. It is an additional object of the present invention to provide an absorbent structure which while having the capability of absorbing fluids does not aggressively extract the fluids from the food product. These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent upon a further review of the following specification, drawings and claims.